5 April 2012 Last updated at 18:52 ET

US Coast Guard fires on tsunami 'ghost ship'

The fuel-laden Japanese fishing boat has no lights, power or crew aboard

The US Coast Guard has used cannon to fire on a crewless Japanese ship that drifted to Alaska after the 2011 tsunami.

The coast guard earlier said they would hold off scuttling the Ryou-Un Maru after a Canadian fishing boat claimed salvage rights.

But a Canadian official later said that the Bernice C was unable to tow the 200ft (61m) Japanese "ghost ship".

The boat has no lights or power and was viewed as a danger to other ships.

It is thought to be at the vanguard of a stream of tsunami debris that has been drifting east since last year's disaster hit Japan.

The Anacapa gunnery ship of the 17th US Coast Guard began shadowing the empty ship on Wednesday afternoon.

Owner contacted

The Ryou-Un Maru was first spotted off the coast of Canadian British Columbia on 23 March.

It is currently about 170 nautical miles (196 miles; 315km) south-west of Sitka, Alaska.

The vessel was moving at about 1km/h in a maritime transport corridor that separates US and Canadian waters.

The gunnery ship would use a 25mm cannon on board the Anacapa to scuttle the ghost ship, Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow told the BBC earlier.

A Hercules C-130 air crew was ready to participate in the operation, broadcasting to mariners and air traffic to alert them and help clear the surrounding area before the demolition of the ship began.

CPO Wadlow said it would be too expensive to try to salvage the ship, and too dangerous to put anyone on board.

The ship has about 8,000 litres (2,113 gallons) of diesel on board.

The Ryou-Un Maru, a shrimping boat, has been traced to the Japanese island of Hokkaido.

Alaskan Senator Mark Begich suggested that the boat's owner had been identified, but the owner did not want the vessel back.

On 11 March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan, triggering a tsunami that swamped a power station, prompting the worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

BBC News - US Coast Guard fires on tsunami 'ghost ship'